Bankers defensive against critics

Leading world bankers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, are on the defensive amid demands to regulate their industry more closely.

Bankers have been widely blamed for the financial crisis that has left more than 200 million people unemployed around the world and dramatically reduced the living standards of many in the developed world.

But James Dimon, chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co., says “we’re doing the right thing” and insists that the world needs banks so that people can buy houses and governments can function.

Axel Weber, chairman of Swiss-based bank UBS, acknowledges “excesses” of the past but says it is pointless to debate breaking up banks.

Both spoke Wednesday in Davos at the annual gathering of more than 2,500 corporate and political leaders.